Today, Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has offered to connect the Turkish Stream pipeline to the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP), via which Azerbaijani gas will be delivered to Europe. According to him, Ankara will buy only 16 billion cubic meters of Russian gas per year via the Turkish Stream. The remaining volume of Russian gas can be exported through Turkey via TANAP by connecting it to the Turkish Stream.
Vestnik Kavkaza asked the director of the Baku Oil Research Center Caspian Barrel, Ilham Shaban, whether this project is realistic and what benefits can it bring to the parties.
"I think this statement was made purely at political level. Cavusoglu is certainly familiar with Russian gas transportation route through the Turkish territory and its details since the beginning of 2015, so he knows that the western part of 'Turkish Stream' will begin in Turkey's İpsala village, where the pipeline will cross the border towards Greece. It is close to the point where TANAP gas pipeline will be connected with the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) by European pipeline. This village was chosen specifically because it is the most reasonable place for pipeline to enter Greece territory. In addition, it is a convenient place to connect to Greek network, and pipeline for transporting Russian gas could be built there," he said.
"What Cavusoglu means is likely not connection to TANAP, but to 'Southern Gas Corridor'. Maybe translation was incorrect. I think he likely meant a gas corridor, and Southern Gas Corridor is de facto and technically one of the best options, which can be easily implemented," he noted.
